Best Shot of the Week - Page 179

I had played the first four holes of my round yesterday as a single, with another single a hole ahead of me, but a slow group bunched the two of us together on the fifth, a par four that loops sharply around a retention pond. The single ahead waves me from the fairway to join him, which is exactly what I hoped wouldn't happen; being beckoned to join or pass another group always results in a complete breakdown of my golf swing as I try to rush through. On this day. I respond to the invitation by smothering a fairway wood off the tee into the earthen dam of the pond. I have no choice to hack the ball 50 yards into the fairway, setting up a 130-yard approach to the green.

 

The single ahead is now on the green, waiting for me to join him before he walks to his ball. I set up to hit an easy 8-iron away from the hazard...and shank the ball straight into the pond. I pull another ball out of my pocket, drop it on the same spot, and disgustedly whack a shot without much thought that still ends 15 yards short of the green. By this time, the single ahead has given up on me reaching him on the green, and holes out. As he walks off the green, I chip in for double-bogey.

Played a par 5 today where you can not play driver off the first whole because of a ditch going across and even a 300 yard drive which I hit doesn't clear it all time so I laid up with a 3 iron but went left into some trees.  I had no shot to even get it acrossed the ditch from there so I took my three iron and punched in back in the fairway on the front side of the ditch I then had 230 left to the green which I used my 3 iron once more and made the green and dropped the putt for birdie.  Had all the makings for a bad hole if you were to judge by my first tee shot.

My best shot of the day came immediately after my worst shot of the day......hehe

 

Lets set the stage:

This is an easily reachable par5 18th.......500yds.   I'm even par through 17 holes and thinking to myself......"I'm making no worse than birdie to shoot under par today."  I'm playing well so this is a done deal!  All I need to do is hit my drive in the fairway.  (I just 3-putted the 17th green from 15' to make bogey to fall back to even par)  LOL....it was a fast putt and I got greedy. 

 

 

After a perfect drive right down the 18th fairway...... I had 209yds to the pin which is a perfect 4hybrid for the conditions of the day.  I was going to stick it and make eagle!!!   The green complex has trees both left & right and a massive ditch fronting the green.  I pushed my hybrid into the left trees and it kicked into the ditch.  #%^&.......I had just ruined what should have been, AT WORST, and even par round of 72.  Son of A.............

 

I take my penalty drop short of the ditch.... 66yds to the pin.............I have downhill lie and a front pin.  I open my 60deg wedge slightly and give it a nice 3/4 swing and nip it perfectly.  The ball lands on the front of the green, takes 1 hop......and stops stone dead 8" from the cup.    I tap-in......and save my par.

 

 

I did make 5 birdies today, but that par saving wedge shot was definitely my best shot of the day

Par 4, second shot from left side of fairway. Nice lie, slightly uphill to green. Rangefinder showed 182 yds, went with 4i (bunker right front).

This is very a low percentage shot for me but fortunately I usually only face them on par 3's.

Hit it clean, slightly pulled. Ball landed maybe 10 yds short of green, rolled on and stopped pin-high, maybe 12 ft to left.

I missed the birdie putt by a few inches but man did that 4i feel sweet! A real confidence booster.

Finished birdie, birdie yesterday. Haven't done that in years. The first one was a four footer, but the last was a 20 foot sidehiller that broke a good three feet. The shot in was pretty good for me, a 185 yard uphill hybrid, playing at least 195.

Windy conditions prevented me from hitting any GIR yesterday. Hit a great 3rd shot out of greenside bunker. Had about 75 feet to the pin and the ball all came out high and landed soft with some spin about 4 feet from the pin. Putted in for par. I've put a lot of work into sand practice the past month and it's payed off. Got tired of walking into a trap and having the feeling I'd blow it.

Played today after playing poorly the last couple rounds. My goal today was just appreciating the time on the course. Just birdied the 16th hole (par 5 - driver/3 wood/flop shot) and the 17th is a par 3 playing 185 today. I grabbed my 4 iron knowing if I hit it well it should come out pretty decent. So I made a nice swing, concentrating on moving through the ball and flushed it. It took off with a slight draw, tracking the pin all the way. It hit about 3 feet short of the hole then jumped at the flag, striking it and dropping less than a foot away. I got to the green and saw that my ball actually hit the hole itself after that first bounce. Nearly had my first hole in one but a nice tap in birdie.

Eagle on a par 5 today.

 

Driver, down the middle.  3 wood,  left-center of the fairway.  Had about 45 y left. 

 

smooth,  easy 60*over a bunker, lands 5 ft past the hole and spins back into the cup. 

Cha Ching!  the sound of it hiting the pin and dropping in was sweet indeed

Lots of good shots this week, holed out chips, well struck irons to a couple of feet, not a ton of nice drives, but a lot of fairways.  I'd say the best shots I hit were from 65 yards out on a short par-4 over water with a very stiff wind from behind and a green that slopes down to the pond.  My first choice was my stock pitch, medium-low trajectory with a 56* sand-wedge, scoot it in medium-low to the front and let it release to the back.  Struck the shot and line exactly the way I wanted, but the wind knocked the low-spin shot out of the air and it dropped to the front fringe, then got a weird bounce left from the slope and ended up somewhere around 25 feet for birdie when I should be < 10 easy.  I dropped another ball and took a 60* wedge, opened everything up just a fraction, played the ball somewhat forward and took a high-pitch swing to get some spin and trajectory on it.  It went pretty high and the wind carried it to the hole to within 4 feet.  Techinque-wise, both shots were the same difficulty to execute.  It was extremely instructive to see the result and I thought my course management benefited from the experience.

I play in a mens league once a month... I was giving the guy I was playing a pop on the par 5 18th hole.  So I knew my chances were slim as the hole wasn't long - and the guy I was playing wasn't getting into trouble.  I figured the only way I could win the match was with a birdie.

 

Well, I managed to pull it off... I chipped in for birdie on 18 from about 50 ft to win my match in our men's league!  

 

That chip turned the match from a 5 to 5 push... Into a 7 to 3 win for me. 

 

The guy I was playing was dead silent.  He didn't even congratulate me on the shot!  I think he was stunned? LOL

141 yard to the flag par 3 over water to roughly 18 inches...

 

Sunday last. Fat 2-iron down our ~370 yard 12th - went ~150! Absolutely flushed a 3-iron ~215 right down the flag. Putt disappeared dead centre.

To illustrate the stupidity of this game, on the same round laced a driver and a sweet 7-iron into our 14th (index 3) with about 15' to the hole. Walked off with a 6 - don't ask!

hit this shot from about 170 yards out..this is the par 4 18th. proceded to make the putt and finish with an 89 on the day..my best round ever by far!! (i've been playing like six months)

it was actually my birthday so i guess the golf gods were smiling on the that day

 

still haven't made a damn birdie yet!!

I probably shouldn't even post this because I missed the putt, but my best 2 shots of the week came on a 500yd par 5 playing into the teeth of a moderate wind.   I absolutely killed my drive and made it to the 225yd marker.  It was a front pin and I had 199yds to a front pin.............I hit a pure 18deg hybrid to 10feet behind the cup.....but missed the eagle...grrrr!!   It was still a great 2nd shot considering the stiff wind

Hmmm... This shot out did my monday shot. My second shot into the wind was 170 ish and so I hit my 6 iron which got caught up in the wind after pushing it right. I was roughly 30 yards from the hole behind a sand trap.I knew I had to lay it just over the trap since the greens have been quick leaving me about 20 feet to the hole and a right to left breaking green. I hit the shot and it landed perfect why enough spin to slow it down to reasonable pace and I watched roll and break slowly and drop into the cup. I was playing well today. Damn it felt good.

Last drive yesterday afternoon with my Joe Powell persimmon driver. The 9th is a short dogleg par 4 about 330 uphill with a nice sandtrap right in the corner that takes about 215-220 to clear. When I say uphill, I mean about 75 ft elevation change in 330 yards. I hit right where I was looking over the trap by 10-15 yards and had about 100 to the center of the green. I did hit the green but had a lovely 3-putt. Still pleased with a 230 yard drive. I know most of you hit a 5 iron 230 yards, but I was pleased!

I started thinking about my best and worst shot(s) of the day a few months ago (about 1/2 way through our season). I tried to have more on the good side of the ledger each time out and eliminate the bad ones. A bad swing will happen, but the "what was I thinking" ones are way down!!

 

Last round on the 17th hole I hooked my tee shot to the wrong fairway. I forgot my rangefinder in the car and guessed at the distance. Hit a wedge to less than 4 feet. The best shot of the day was draining the birdie putt. It would have put a damper on a great recovery shot.